


Bunny hops and Butterflies

by BreadAndSpecs



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Chloé Bourgeois Redemption, Kwami Swap, Marichat, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Salt, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:08:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24421066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BreadAndSpecs/pseuds/BreadAndSpecs
Summary: In a world incredibly similar to the one people know, one sneeze is what it took to lose it all.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28





	1. Rupture

**Author's Note:**

> Preliminary warning: The first arc of this fic contains unhealthy amounts of LILA.  
> People who need to watch their sodium intake will find this fanfiction unsuitable for consumption.
> 
> AU Notes: I am tentatively calling this an AU, so that while I aim to remain close to canon facts, your eyes don’t end up bleeding because of inconsistencies. Those differences will be explained whenever they are relevant.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bunnyx messes up. She messes up *bad*.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU changes this chapter:  
> Lila’s mother is much more like an older, more experienced Lila.  
> I am also using the production order to dictate the order of episodes. This takes place after Chameleon (beginning of Season 3)

In a future that was all-but-written-in-stone, Alix, or more accurately her superhero persona, Bunnyx, huffed in amusement at the latest antics of her favorite idiot couple.

Adrien should really have known better than to get between Marinette and her cravings for peanut butter, strawberry jam and Roquefort. It didn’t help that Plagg, the little gremlin, was taking her side in the argument, Bunnyx mused, absentmindedly ducking and dodging, narrowly avoiding the flying feline hero, currently unpowered.

Bad move, that.

She glanced at Marinette’s swelling belly, clear sign of her current state, before congratulating herself over her realization that couples and pregnancy were disgusting and that she wanted nothing to do with it.

Speaking of, it was time for her daily patrol of the Burrow..

Alix closed her eyes, feeling TIme ebb and flow around her, before she concentrated, the immaterial swirls turning into currents, then into a whirlpool that threatened to swallow her. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in a darkened alley of cracked asphalt tucked between two old buildings that really needed an encounter with a paintbrush.

One of her ears twitched as she heard an explosion in the distance and her eyes narrowed. This was where the time anomaly was. An akuma, she bet, as her gaze roamed through the trash to land on a half-illegible newspaper issue. The lovebirds weren’t dating yet at that time. This may be her first really active mission, but she had prepared for this for years, ever since she learned that she would get the Rabbit Miraculous, and she’d be damned if she’d make a mistake!

She ran off in its direction then, oddly enough, sneezed.

Now, this in itself wouldn’t be an issue.

However, Bunnyx, for all of her training, was still young and untested, didn’t have adequate preparations to jump through the flows of time, and certainly not enough to prevent mishaps from happening.

Which is why, as she got out of the alley, she almost fell to the ground after hitting a garbage can, almost sending it flying against the left-side exit. Shaking her head, she thought about putting it back in place, but the explosions were getting closer so she decided against it.

Now, this in itself wouldn’t be an issue either.

What became an issue was a particular item that fell out of the bin. A half rotten, extra slippery, banana peel.

The one Lila Rossi was currently walking on, causing her to slip and fall, breaking her elbow in the process of landing.

The Italian girl was lying on her back, looking at the sky in a daze and, for a second, it looked like the world around her fractured. The destruction spread invisibly through the burrows of time and Bunnyx only had a few seconds to shout in alarm, before crumbling into dust in front of two very alarmed superheroes, akuma almost forgotten.

A voice somewhere on her right caused the Italian girl to snap out of her daze and forget what she just saw, instead she focused to the one talking to her.

“Oh dear, don’t move you might have a concussion!” A middle aged woman knelt next to the girl, her hand fishing in her handbag for a phone.

Lila bit back a poisonous answer, before putting on a brave smile. 

You never knew who was looking, after all.

  
  


* * *

  
  


It took several hours of waiting at the hospital, during which she sent a few messages to her followers, before her mother arrived. She looked a lot like her, but her features were more mature, with plump lips and impressive curves that her designer suit enhanced, her hair gathered in a strict bun and crimson lipstick shining in the light.

“My Lila!” The woman broke her composure, running in her direction and fluttering all around her as if worriedly checking on her to see if there were any wounds.

Lila, of course, knew better than to believe it and saw the act for what it was, but she decided to go along with it for the benefit of the staff. 

Leaving everything to her mother, Lila took advantage of her current state to think. Now that she had calmed down, she realized that she made a mistake by confronting Dupain-Cheng the way she did today. If the girl had the presence of mind to bring a recorder with her, Lila would be finished. Furthermore, now, she would be on guard and looking for any opportunity to bring her down.

Meaning she had to put her threats to execution to preemptively protect herself from her classmate.

There was a small problem however: she had no idea how to proceed, the Italian girl huffed in frustration, rubbing her forehead with her good hand. Agreste knew she was lying, Césaire would likely be swayed by Dupain-Cheng in time and Lahiffe had very sharp instincts. If nothing was done, she would soon lose, but if she didn’t act correctly, she would lose too…

Her mother was now driving them home and she was no closer to getting an epiphany. Having no doubt sensed ehr mounting frustration, the woman commented.

“Did you know, Lila dearie, that if you try to put a frog in boiling water, it will jump out, but if you put it in cold water, and heat up gradually, it will not realize what is happening until it is too late?”

Lila’s eyes widened and she turned her head towards her mother, whose eyes were stuck on the road, a small, enigmatic smile on her face. She then relaxed, nodding.

Yes, yes, that option had promise, she realized. Though, she’d need to be patient, and it would probably take years....

On one hand, a ticket to high society and celebrity, on the other, _years_ of working on it…

She grimaced. Impatience was her vice, that was why she lied instead of working to get as good as she said she was, because while she had the ability, there were so many other interesting things to do…

Except this time, it would take years before she could marry Agreste anyways…

She shifted leaning against her seat in a way that would make her feel more comfortable. She needed to do this just right. Mr. Agreste would be a formidable opponent, so, if possible, she would like to avoid him altogether. She knew Adrien knew, he had been very clear about it, but it also seemed that he managed to cowe Dupain-Cheng into remaining silent for the time being. In other words, as long as she didn’t act up, the girl wouldn’t interfere.

This was both good and bad. Good in that the difficulty level would be lowered, but bad in that it meant Lila couldn’t rely entirely on her tall tales and would have to … urgh… take a more personal approach when it came to earning her classmates’ trust.

“Remember honey, we’re staying here until you finish high school.”

True, that. She realized with surprise.

Before, she moved countries at least once every year, the people she met eventually losing contact with her, making things like friendships unlikely to last, and painful when they ended. After high school, she’d be essentially allowed to be on her own too…

She could stay, Lila’s mouth dropped, a small “Oh.” escaping her lips. She could just stay here with people she’d gotten to know.

A pit of something opened in her stomach. The people here weren’t exactly…. Lila knew herself, saying she wasn’t the nicest of people was an understatement. People wouldn’t like her as she is anyways.

But people changed.

The question was, whether they would change her or she would change them first…

A flash of memories came to her mind and she put her cheek against the car’s class as her mouth closed. It felt refreshingly cool.

If she had that realization earlier, then, maybe she would have targeted Marinette instead of Adrien...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who was bored out of their skull during confinement?
> 
> Not used to the AO3 format, so I'll probably change it when I'm more used to it, requesting your patience in the meantime, thanks!


	2. School Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Marinette needs coffee, and Lila gets coffee.

Marinette was tired. Scratch that, she was exhausted, and it was all Hawkmoth’s fault. She leaned forward, her chin falling onto her crossed forearms and blinked blearily as she stifled a yawn. Her eyes fell on the blackboard and she half-heartedly moved her arm to force herself to take notes. French wasn’t really her strongest point, nor was it her weakest, but at least Miss Buster was a tiny bit more understanding of her tiredness than Miss Mendeleiev was, so she was allowed to doze off from time to time.

The good thing about being forced in the back, away from her friends (but were they really friends if they were the ones to move her?), was that her desk was elevated, so she didn’t need to look up to see what was written. Miss Bustier also had a tendency not to call upon people on the last two rows to answer her questions unless they volunteered, since they were out of her usual field of vision, which suited her just fine right now.

Seriously, an Akuma at 3 A.M. was terrible. If she didn’t already know Hawkmoth was an evil,  _ Evil  _ man, this would be all the confirmation she needed. She stifled a yawn as the bell rung the end of classes for today and rubbed her eyes, Tikki patting her hand encouragingly through the thin fabric of her purse currently laying on her laps.

“Go back home and to bed early Marinette. You need sleep.” The kwami said sweetly, her blue eyes peeking from the thin opening, almost luminous in the dark. Marinette sluggishly put her book in her bag, when a hand slammed against the wood of her desk, making her squeak in surprise and almost fall off her chair. Looking up, holding warily onto the school book she almost let escape,she saw Alya smiling at her, her smile turning into a frown.

“You’re not looking too hot, you okay here?” She asked with visible concern, and Marinette’s lips twitched up.

“Didn’t get much sleep, The Akuma attacked next to my house, so the fighting woke me up…” Which was true, though she was the one doing the fighting this time. She yawned again. “Sorry… Bit tired right now.” She mumbled, before remembering that, technically, this was the first time they spoke today. Huh. She didn’t really know how to feel about that. “Hello to you too, Alya.” 

Her friend smiled wryly and she scratched her arm as she did whenever she was embarrassed. When she spoke though, her voice was a bit lower.

“Yeah, hi girl. Sorry about that, Lila broke her elbow after a bad fall and…” She shrugged. Marinette’s eyes briefly turned towards the Italian girl, who had her arm in a cast and was laughing at something Nino said. She didn’t really know if it was truth or a lie, but she had a note from her doctor in Sports earlier, so she supposed it was probably the truth this time. Maybe.”She really needed the help, her grades aren’t good at all.” She paused for a moment, considering, before getting her phone, typing a number and speaking up. Marinette tuned it out, focusing on putting her things in her bag until Alya was done. 

“...That okay with you girl?” Alya asked, and all Marinette could answer was “Huh?”, causing Alya to shake her head.

“Yeah, you’re not coming with.” Marinette tried to transmit her lack of understanding through her yawn and Alya, good friend that she is, understood and explained. “Lila offered to take us out to a cafe she knew, to thank us of all the help, which includes you by the way, but I don’t think you won’t fall asleep in the cup so instead, how about you go watch my sisters? They promised to behave this time.”

Marinette would have much preferred going home to sleep, but she could feel Tikki’s encouraging pats on her lap and nodded. She warbled something to Alya, who typed on her phone again.

“Hello, am I at the...,? Oh, Hey Mr Dupain! Yeah… Yeah… Hm-hm… Yeah, she’s agree to watch my sisters, I figured you’d like to know… Sure! I’ll bring her back by 10! Bye Mr. Dupain!” She ended her call and grabbed Marinette by the arm, hoisting her up.

“Phone.” She said, and Marinette handed it obediently. She pressed a few buttons before putting handing it back. “I set up the alarms so that you’d wake up at 7 and another at 9.30, that way you can wake up to make dinner if you feel like it. Otherwise, the twins will raid the fridge. Other one is to that you don’t look completely dead by the time you go home.”

That made sense to her slow, tired mind, she guessed, as Alya dragged her to her home, the twins looking at her and giggling. Were she less exhausted, she’d probably think something was up, but the only thing she could say when her friend put a cup of something warm in her hand was:

“Coffeeeeeeeee~” She automatically downed the entire thing. It tasted a bit weird, but it helped her wake up somewhat. Opening her eyes, whe saw Alya, holding a brick of milk in one hand and a bag of sugar in the other and looking at her with equal parts of surprise and amusement.

“Iiiii’ll bring back those in the kitchen. All you have to do is sit tight, have a nice, looong nap, and throw the remote at the gremlins if they make too much noise, okay? See you later!” 

Now that she noticed it, she must have dozed off for longer than she thought, because Alya had time to change clothes, and take a shower, or at least put on perfume. Her friend just winked at her before sauntering out, closing the door.

She felt something was wrong here, but didn’t quite know what.

Marinette frowned, and downed another cup of coffee.

  
  


* * *

  
  


It was a busy end of the afternoon at Café d’Amélie, where the group had decided to end their outing. Alya had a lot of fun today, Lila being the mindful friend she always was and leaving her plenty of occasions to be alone with Nino. The place was cozy, but packed, so they elected to go to the terrace, where a few well-placed potted bushes separated tables from the streets and each other. The table itself, she noticed, had a mosaic of a man mermaid on a chariot on its top and had a rounded shop.

Lila smiled widely as Adrien, after a moment of hesitation, helped her sid down. Alya pouted in Nino’s direction and he did so too, after a very visible eye roll. Alya glanced at the menu and raised an eyebrow. Those were… expensive, to say the least. While she knew Lila’s family was well-off, it was different to experience it firsthand.

“Do you know what you’re going to order?” The Italian girl asked sweetly. “I like this café because it has a lot of choices, but some of them aren’t clear, so feel free to ask!”

Nino was busy reading the list and Adrien closed his mouth. He’d been ill at ease all evening, especially when Lila initiated contact with him, she’d have to talk to Lila about it. Marinette had been too out of it today to protest in his stead, but while it may be acceptable behavior in Italy, France did things differently.

“I’ll have a Mocaccino.” He finally said, putting the menu down with precise, effortlessly elegant movements.

“Bit of a sweet tooth, hm?” Lila teased him, smiling knowingly at him, while Adrien shrugged almost defensively. “There’s nothing wrong with that! If anything, it’s a good thing you’re friends with a baker’s daughter, you get a lot of free sweets that day!”

“True, Mari often gives us extra that didn’t sell at the bakery.” Nino agreed “I’ll take, uhhh, what would you, you know…” He gestured helplessly at the paper while Lila smiled patiently at him. 

“It really depends on what you prefer, Mocaccino is a very sweet coffee made with coffee, cream and sugar, though some Cafés prefer to use chocolate liquor, you have cappuccino, that’s espresso coffee with milk foam on top and some sugar, the café here does latte art on top of it, so id you want a design, ask the waiter. There’s espresso, that’s coffee ground finely that has had hot water pressurized through it, it’s thicker and more intense than regular coffee, the oil droplet in it give the coffee’s body an almost creamy mouthfeel. Those are the main staples of this shop.” She nodded enthusiastically. “ As for you… Hm. You don’t mind sweets, but I don’t know if you’re good with strong flavors? If you are, then I’d advise a Flat White, the taste of coffee is moderated by the foam, but not too much. Though the coffee here is strong because they brew the beans themselves. If not, then cappuccino should do.” She finished, putting down her own menu, before blushing demurely after noticing the group was staring at her.

“I really like coffee, alright?” She said, a hint of embarrassment in her voice. “ I always went out with Mamma to try the Cafés in the other countries I’ve been in.” 

“Well, I’ll leave myself to your expert… uh… Hands. Yeah. I’m trusting you not to poison me dudette.” Nino gave her a double thumbs up.

“I’ll take a macchiato.” Alya said tentatively.

The waiter chose this moment to appear, smiling at them with pearly white teeth and a dimple on his cheek.

Oh. 

She looked at Lila who was studiously looking at her nails.

Oooooh, that’s why she came here often.

“Your orders?” He asked with a low, velvety tone.

Damn. If she weren’t already with Nino…

Lila gave the young man a dazzling smile of her own. “We will have a Mocaccino with cinnamon and vanilla ice cream, two macciatos with salted caramel millionaires, and one turkish coffee with a loukoums assortment and a rum-raisin ice cream, please.” She handed her menu to the man, who gathered them all and walked off.

“André is the son of the owner and going to another middle school, but he’s around our age. I hear he’s working here to save for new music equipment.” She winked at Nino, who looked consideringly at the man in a waiter’s outfit.

“Huh.”

They chatted for a few minutes about nothing in particular, Adrine only being drawn in the conversation when Nino told him something, but Lila made an effort to lead the conversation so that none of them were forgotten. Alya was laughing at a quip she made about the most recent scandal revolving around the weatherman at the M6 tv channel when the waiter arrived with their orders.

“I will have to come back with your order, it was  _ a bit _ too much to put safely with the others.” He said in Lila’s direction, the girl giggling as he hurried away.

Alya looked at her own order and nibbled tentatively at the shortbread, only to quickly put her hand under her shin so that she wouldn’t have caramel everywhere. Nino snorted, Lila’s giggling fit intensified and Adrien’s lips twitched up. She hummed accusingly at the girl, chewing through her cake and Lila smiled at her.

“You were given a spoon of a reason, you know.” 

True, but a warning would have been nice!

“And you were supposed to drink some coffee first, too!”

Fair enough. Alya hummed and pouted, finally swallowing and looking at the string of caramel on her hand, using a paper napkin to clean it. This is when the waiter, André, came back with Lila’s order and Alya almost felt her teeth rot on the spot. a pile of big cubes surrounded by what seemed to be icing sugar was towering over a cup of coffee and a scoop of ice cream. 

“How often do you eat that?” She felt like she needed to ask at this point as Lila immediately popped one in her mouth and wiggled happily.

“Once a month?” She answered after a while. “I couldn’t really find a shop here that sells those, the owner has a Turkish friend who works at the Haci Bekir company, so he knows people to get the good stuff.” She took a sip of her coffee, before continuing. “But it’s  _ expensive _ , so I don’t get to binge often. Besides, it would be  _ murder  _ on my figure if I ate those more often.”

“Oh, it’s  _ that  _ day then.” Alya nodded sagely. The One Day during which Diet isn’t in effect.

All in all, they had a nice afternoon. It kind of sucked that Marinette couldn't make it, but she looked too exhausted for that, honestly. Between her studies, her projects, the class rep stuff and the actual orders she has to fill, it’s not a surprise that she doesn’t have much time for outings like that, but sometimes, Alya would like her to be, you know, more here? Not that LIla wasn’t a nice girl to have outings with but…

She felt a poke on her cheek and noticed Lila looking at her, the two of them in the restroom while the boys were talking about music or something. 

“Are you alright?”

Alya shook her head. “Yeah, just thinking about Mari… It just doesn’t feel right to have her keep an eye on the twins when we’re having fun, you know?”

Lila hummed.

“As much as I want her here… It’s probably for the best. She really doesn’t like me and, well, I can’t exactly f _ orce _ her to like me, you know?” she sighed tiredly. “Besides, she looked tired, that’s why I asked if you were supposed to babysit your sisters, that way she’d get to rest in a quiet place, and you’d get to have fun with us, you always work so hard, you deserve some down time too, and you two are friends, you know? Friends do help eachother out.” She pointed out, and it sounded okay, but Alya still felt something was wrong.

Lila put her hands on Alya’s forearms, causing the girl to look at her in the eyes. Lila smiled encouragingly.

“If you feel really bad about it, then, just make sure to pay her back sometimes, okay? Marinette can probably use all the help she can get, right?”

Alya hesitated, before nodding slowly.

“Besides, it’s not like you’re stealing the keys to your parents’ car! It’s just taking care of your sisters for one evening!”

Well, that was true enough, she reluctantly admitted, before nodding.

“Great!” Lila let go of her to clap her hands. “Now that I have you all to myself though, Mamma told me that there would be reporters at the embassy next Friday to talk about the Italian elections, wanna come with and watch professionals? They should still be there when we get out of class”

Alya nodded quickly. “Yeah, that’d be great!”

Lila’s smile widened.

“Wonderful.” She said, and a small, ignored part of Alya’s mind wondered why she had a bad feeling about this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> T'was a double post because why not, I have like 4 chapters of buffer anyways. I'll regret it soon enough, I think.


	3. Sowing seeds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lila Plots, Chloé Plots, Tikki Plots, Everybody Plots!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's time for this chapter's AU notes!
> 
> -Akuma don't work with and can't go through bare flesh.  
> -The miraculous stealth and transformed forms change on a case by case basis.

The following day, now reasonably sure Alya was on her side as long as Lila didn’t give her cause to doubt, she decided to work on the other two.

She had made good progress on getting the model to thaw out towards her, but it came at the price of letting the three of them get closer to her. She still had second thoughts about allowing them to learn more about her, but she figured that if she showed them her better aspects and showcased her usefulness through her talents and connections, then they would like her better.

Marinette’s mistake was that her help and affection were unconditional. Therefore, people took her for granted, which was why Lila had such an easy time with her tricks.

After all, they would always have Marinette, their ‘everyday Ladybug’ - Oh, how she loathed the heroine, looking lofty and all so superior to the masses, but petty enough to get in Lila’s way - come Hell or high water. Looking all pretty with her custom clothes and her stupid big blue eyes and her designing skills, attracting everyone’s attention without even trying through sheer goodness. She would even help  _ Lila _ , her own enemy, if she was in enough danger.

Marinette was just that kind of an individual.

She was just too good to be real.

The Italian girl frowned.

And that just got on her nerves. People that nice usually went two ways, either they hid their true nature behind good deeds, or they were just equally nice to everyone out of obligation, and their kindness ultimately meant nothing, because it was given to everyone, regardless of anything that happened. That kind of uncaring kindness was even worse that a fake one.

Marinette.... Lila reckoned she belonged to the first group.

After all, no one hates a liar more than someone who can’t be honest themselves.

Now, what was she lying about, was the question…

As she entered the classroom, arm in her cast, she smiled widely at the group. After a bit of lip service to the rest of the class, enough to maintain their interest and send them away without seeming rude, she swanned towards the front desks, where her spot next to Adrien was.

Oddly enough, Marinette was already at her spot in the back, though she was drawing something on her notebook. Lila figured that after her stunt at the Café, having Alya dump her sisters on her while she went to have fun with her sworn enemy and her crush, she would at least protest or try to get her seat back, but it seemed this wouldn’t be the case.

This was out of character and Lila didn’t like this.

No time to worry about this, however, she was on a schedule. She turned towards Adrien as she sat, the boy giving him a wary glance and she smiled even more.

“Hello Adrien!” She said energetically, causing Marinette’s head to lift up, eyes zooming towards the two of them. The Italian girl’s eyes turned back towards the blond boy, her face taking on an apologetic expression. She then spoke more quietly.

“I would like to say… I’m sorry… Marinette’s hostility made me more defensive and before I knew, the situation escalated… I, well, I was scared of people ignoring me, so I told tall tales, and now,if I started telling the truth, people could get hurt… With all those akumas around…” She hugged herself with one arm, wincing as her other one caused her pain as she tried to move it. She looked up at Adrien earnestly, shuddering inside at what she had to say to earn his pity. “I… I know it may be too much to ask but… Could you maybe give me another chance, to prove I’m not a bad person?”

If she had to say any more of that dung, she would probably puke. Yet, she could see it in his eyes, Adrien was hesitating. He seemed to be struggling with something, before stiffly nodding.

Well, she didn’t expect him to accept her with open arms, but this was a surprisingly cold reaction coming from him. No matter. She now had a foot in the door, all she needed to do now was pry it open.

“And you would believe that drivel? Ridiculous, I thought better of you, Adrihoney.” Chloé Bourgeois, class bully, piped up, looking down at Lila like some sort of trash that dared to touch her designer shoes.

Well, this wasn’t exactly Marinette, but this was even better, Lila thought as her classmates were looking at Chloé in a hostile fashion.

Her expression changed, and Lila willed her eyes to fill with tears, a dainty image of misery.

“I-I know you don’t like me… B-but I try to be a better person… I know I’m not that good a person… I’m too powerless to help all those orphans everywhere, b-but this is just too cruel!” She finished, her voice a whisper as her face fell in her hands, sobs ringing clearly through the air.

All around her, she could hear people coming to her defence and surrounding her, forming a protective barrier between herself and Chloé, who was getting increasingly agitated. It soon turned into a shouting match that was only interrupted when Miss Bustier came for their English Lesson.

“What in the world is going on here?” The woman asked, looking from Chloé to the group of students surrounding Lila, to Marinette, who was blinking in a confused manner, back to Chloé.

“He was harassing Lila!” “Utterly ridiculous!” “She’s even crying!”

Caline Bustier looked in the direction of Adrien, who was usually the reason why Chloé acted up, but he remained silent, looking studiously at his desk, while the blonde girl let out a choked gasp. Part of her felt bad at the flagrant betrayal from the boy to his childhood friend, but she could do nothing about that.

She knew that deep, deep down, hidden by all of her adoration of that terrible woman and her terrible ways, there was a great potential for leadership. She had already exhibited an eye for talent and an incredible stubbornness, but with the arrival of Miss Rossi….

It was an open secret in the teacher’s lounge that the girl was a consummate liar. However, that particular one had her mother’s backing, who provided the appropriate documents to justify her absences, making it so any move from the teachers themselves would be seen as persecution, which was the last thing this school needed, what with all the Akumatizations.

The woman sighed. First Marinette, now Chloé. That Rossi girl was more trouble than she was worth, but she had a duty to keep her students safe, and causing an akumatization would be counted as reckless endangerment of a minor on her part, or so said the newest piece of legislation concerning education in Paris. In other words, her only option here was to separate them and provide what little support she could. She had to call in a few favors one Mathilde Mendeleiev owed her to make sure she wasn’t too hard on Marinette, but Chloé’s willful behavior made that option impossible.

With all of that in mind, it seemed that Caline would have to fall back on an old plan : Forcing the two to become friends, so that they would have eachother's corner in those trying times.

She sighed.

“It is time for class everyone… Chloé, if you can’t stomach the idea of being near Lila, then you are welcome to go sit in the back.” Her eyes turned towards Sabrina. “Sabrina, if you wish to go and sit with Chloé, feel free to do so.” 

Considering the current situation, this was the only allowance she could make. A discreet glance at Lila revealed her expression of triumph that she then quickly hid in favor of fear and sadness, and Caline had to stamp down the rising feeling of anger in her stomach. She had acquired a lot of practice in the matter. 

A movement attracted her eyes. No, she had to nip that in the bud right now.

“Lila, let go of Adrien, he needs that arm for the lesson.” The girl didn’t even bother faking being apologetic and once again, Caline mentally cursed the girl’s mother. One said the apple didn’t fall far from the tree, children usually had their own parents as models, and it was the duty of people like Caline to show the proper example to follow, but children at that age tended to be willful and reject the authority of adults to instead follow the more popular children. 

She admitted she put a lot of pressure on Marinette’s shoulders because of that, but Chloé’s selfishness and Lila’s own were very different. Chloé, deep down, craved approval from her mother, and all of her behavior was centered about emulating the woman. Her father was no help in that regard either, enabling any of her whims, but Caline had shown hints of the girl behind all of that projected arrogance, and she thought her to be worth the effort. Lila, on the other hand, was never taught about consequences and went from place to place before ever having to deal with them. It didn’t help that her mother was her only role model, having no father in the picture.

Still, she was ultimately a child, too, so Caline would try.

As Chloé stomped towards the back of the classroom, Sabrina held back by the other students as Lila was trying to work her ‘magic’ on her, Caline put on her usual cheery expression and began the lesson, putting a lid on the box full of worries that she buried within herself. Hawkmoth better pray that Ladybug get to him first, because if Caline, or any teacher from this school gets their hands on him first, he'd get to feel every bit of the anguish he cause her students to feel, _tenfold_.

* * *

  
  
  


Chloé wasn’t an idiot. In fact, she liked to think of herself as smarter than most, she just didn’t consider school to be worth more than a token effort!

After all, her father was the Mayor of Paris, and her mother was a world-famous fashion critic, she knew her future didn’t lay in  _ Maths  _ of all things.

As she sat at the back of her classroom, Dupain-Cheng more worried about her designs than the lessons and that girl slobbering all over  _ her  _ Adrihoney, Chloé Plotted.

Rossi targeting Dupain-Cheng was excusable, after all, she was new and didn’t know the half-Asian girl was  _ hers _ to deal with, and no one else’s. Her trying to vie for the attentions of  _ her _ childhood friend was less acceptable, but still expected, as he was a popular model with a face plastered everywhere in Paris. 

However, Chloé drew the line at that witch trying to steal away  _ her friend _ .

She was perfectly aware that their relationship, from an outsider’s perspective, was odd, to say the least, but it was theirs, both of them agreed on its terms, and both of them stuck to them. It was none of all of those outsiders’ business.

Her lips pursed.

Chloé didn’t usually need to exert herself, that was Sabrina’s job, but if that Italian slattern wanted a war, then the blonde was _more than ready_ to provide.

Typing on her phone while ignoring the contents of a lesson she already knew, Chloé Bourgeois did what she was best at: coordinating her subordinates to deal with a threat.

Now if only Dupain-Cheng saw the light and finally accepted her rightful place as her subordinate, all would be well in the world!

She remained in an even, oddly calm mood until the end of classes. After meeting with her butler, she began hunting her prey. Taking her routine into account, she should be alone right about….

_ Now. _

In the restroom, Chloé had both arms on each sides of Rossi’s head and an eerie, shiny smile on her lips.

“Hello, Rossi. I think it’s time the both of us had a talk, right?”

The Italian faltered for a moment, as it should, but then, and infuriatingly calculating expression appeared on her face.

“Hello, Chloé. Here to tell me to stay away from Sabrina?”

Chloé humphed. At least the girl was quick on the uptake.

“Oh, I can understand why you would go after her, having the police in your corner would make all your pretty little lies and manipulations much easier. Stay away from my Sabrina, else I will make sure you regret it.” After all, Sabrina hated having to deal with these kinds of things and gladly let Chloé take the lead because of that.

Lila giggled.

“Why would I? You’re a friendless spoiled brat who is losing everyone around her, Dupain-Cheng and you are a match made in heaven. What are you going to do? Tell her that I’m after her for her connections? She wouldn’t believe you after the way you used her. The others have told me, you know?”

Chloé looked at her and for a single, tiny second, she felt pity for the girl.

Before viciously stamping it out. After all, Mother said that if someone was so gone that she would feel pity for them, then the only reasonable reaction would be putting them down like a rabid dog.

Lila, however, caught the swift change of expression and her face deformed in anger.

“I will. Because she is my friend, and real friends trust each other without having to pay for it.”

The Italian’s mouth dropped at Chloé’s answer as she stepped back and let her arms fall to her side, turning around and strutting away.

“This is your only warning, Rossi. Stay away from mine, or I’ll make sure you’ll regret whatever victories others hand you.”

“And I promise I’ll steal everything from you. You won’t even have your eyes left to cry once I’m done with you.” The girl told her in an eerily calm voice, and Chloé turned around, smiling at her in a condescending fashion.

“Or what, widdle you will go cry to daddy Hawkmoth about the mean girl?” Chloé put her hand to her cheek with a fake, exaggerated expression. “‘Waaaaa, daddy Hawk," she put the backs of her hands under her eyes, her voice faking a baby's crying. " the mean, mean Chloé said mean things to me~ Go deal with her now because I’m a widdle baby who can’t take the heat~’” It was the blonde’s turn to become expressionless as her voice dropped. “ Last warning Rossi, don’t start something you can’t finish.”

The two stared at each other, an odd tension crackling between the two of them, when a black butterfly fluttered in, seemingly hesitating , before flying towards Lila.

“Not on my watch!” Chloe shouted, sprinting towards the girl who had raised her bracelet, willingly, ( _willingly!_ ) welcoming the upcoming akumatization. That was then Chloé’s bare hands closed around the Akuma, and nothing happened.

The two stared at each other for a moment, before Chloé turned around and ran, hands still holding the struggling butterfly between them.

“Ladybug! I need Ladybug! Akuma right here!” She shouted, leaving a rapidly paling Lila behind her.

* * *

  
  


Tikki floated out of Marinette’s purse as they both entered her room and shared a look.

“That was… Weird.” Marinette said, because what else could she do. Tikki merely giggled.

“It looks like Chloé isn’t all bad, deep, deep down.” Or Pollen had a much deeper impact than they all thought at the time, what with the girl’s desperation to cling on her Queen Bee title. “Maybe we should call onto the Bee more often?”

The girl frowned in concentration.

“She’s too reckless...And her identity was compromised.”

Tikki floated.

“But she has been working very hard to get better, and she did help, I say we give her a chance, provided she keeps up the good work?” Tikki pushed. Having Chloé in the team would serve two purposes. First, she would temper Chat Noir. Second, she had access to resources no one else in the city had.

Marinette was clearly wavering now, and Tikki decided to put the last nail on the metaphorical coffin of her doubts.

“You’ve seen how her mother is, if you, Ladybug, show her your approval despite everything, there is a chance that she’ll choose to emulate you instead! All she needs is the right encouragement, that’s much better than Lila, don’t you think?”

And just like that, Marinette was convinced.

No, it would be more accurate to say she was _persuaded_ , the kwami thought as Marinette put her bag on her bed, getting her things to do her homework.

That Lila girl has been jumping with both feet on Marinette’s protective instincts and it has begun to show, Tikki frowned. Maybe it was time to allow Plagg and her to interact, for her sake.

She… Wasn’t sure about that, truthfully. She didn’t want to lose Marinette, especially not to her feline friend, but she feared losing her to her own frustration would ultimately be worse.

No. Not yet. Not until the Adrien matter was solved.

Chat Noir was too reckless, he didn’t seem to understand that he needed to protect himself first, in order to protect Ladybug. Both in his civilian and masked life.

That sense of self-sacrifice, optimism, will to see the best in everyone and reluctance to cut off the rot before it spread…

Tikki’s eyes closed.

Come hell or high water, her Ladybug was Marinette, it was only Marinette and would only be _Marinette_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone go and give Tikki a Hug.
> 
> As you may have noticed, the format of storytellin is more vignettes than anything else, because the first chapters are essentially a massive flashback, so their being disjointed is intentional. THere was just too much to tell (and I don't like flashbacks in story) and just skipping would make you miss rather *important* details.


	4. Intervention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tikki's salty. Marinette's salty. Oh wait, those are tears...

It was Friday, and she made a choice.

Never again. Marinette resolutely decided as she arrived to school on time, fully awake for once, after Tikki stepped on her face tor ten minutes in order to get her to wake up.

She would never take on so many orders, ever again. They left her with absolutely no time left for anything else. Sure, the payout was good, she’d have enough to buy fabric for the rest of the school year, but considering her duties as Ladybug, this was just begging for an incident to happen.

She switched the bags from her left hand to her right and pushed the door open. Almost everyone was here and she was greeted…. By Rose.

“Heya Marinette! You’re on time today!” She said enthusiastically, and Marinette had a short look in the direction of (her) Lila’s desk, where the girl was sitting, arm still in its cast and surrounded by Alya, Nino and, she realized with a pinch in her heart, Adrien.

“Ah, yes, I’m here, and I’m done with the costumes, too.” She said warmly and focused on Rose’s almost visible glow of happiness as she took the bag from her hands.

“Oh, do you have the list of prices, for the materials?” The blonde almost vibrating with impatience, barely restraining herself from opening the bag and trying on the costume.

“Not this time” Marinette shook her head, before smiling at her. “This time’s on me, consider it a congratulatory gift for your group’’s creation, okay?”

Rose’s mouth opened, and she opened the bag, revealing the complex costumes done to perfection, with additional embroidery in gold and silver colored thread to accentuate the musicians’ best physical features. The girl squeed in joy and launched herself at Marinette who lost her balance and fell down, the back of her head hitting the floor.

The twin tailed girl had to blink the stars away for a few seconds as she felt Rose get up, apologizing profusely, before she slowly got up, rubbing the back of her head. A hand was offered to help her up and she took it without thinking much, but it was only after her ears stopped ringing that she realized that is was Adrien who helped her up.

As in, Adrien was holding her hand.  _ Right now. _

_ AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA- _

“Marinette, are you okay? do you need to go to the nurse?”

Meanwhile, Rose was the very picture of contrition.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you fall…”

She felt her face begin to burn and her heart rate pick up(aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Adrien’sholdingherhandrightnow!).

Cursing herself for her reaction, she tried to say something reassuring, but her ability to speak was somehow lost.

“A-Adrien?! Y-You’re fine! I mean  _ I’m _ fine! Everybody’s fine!” She could hear Alya snigger behind him, traitor that she is, but instead focused on getting her hand back, reluctantly, as Miss Bustier arrived in class (hishandissowarmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah).

Her best friend finally tapped Adrien on the shoulder, walking around him and looked at Marinette with what was a sheepish grin.

“Hey… I figured I would tell you now but, Lila’s arranged a meeting with a few professional reporters at the Italian embassy on Friday after classes… I know we have our weekly Ladyblog meetings on that day, but I don’t get to talk to professionals often, you know?” Marinette closed her mouth, ignoring the burning feeling just begging to roar out of her throat and breathed in. She couldn’t afford akumatization, she needed to calm down.

(She has begun making good on her promise but you’re just too  _ useless  _ to stop her!)

“I….It’s alright. It’s your future after all! We’ll just see each other next Friday?” The words tasted like sand in her mouth. Alya looked at her, then shook her head.

“I know you don’t like her for some reason, but thanks for letting me do that. I’ll make it up to you!” She said brightly, before turning back towards the desk she shared with Nino, unaware of Marinette’s mental shouts of her not wanting Alya to make it up to her, just to be here and not push her away when she isn’t convenient to have around anymore.

And Adrien just  _ stood here _ , saying nothing, but looking at Marinette with sadness and concern.

Avoiding his eyes, she almost ran to her desk, trying with all her might to calm her thundering heart, she closed her eyes, remembering how nowadays, he spent most of his time with Lila, as did all of her friends…. A sharp pain hit her in the chest and she put her hand on it.

(Did she really amount to so little than he would prefer a liar over her?)

“Could you be any less obvious, Dupain-Cheng?” Chloe’s voice broke her out of her daze and she opened her eyes to see the blond girl look at her from the corner of her eyes as she was putting on another layer of lip gloss, holding a compact in her other hand. She closed it with a sharp clicking noise, before the heiress harrumphed. “Seeing you pine over him is becoming quite aggravating, have some dignity, will you?”

Marinette’s mouth dropped.

“ _ You  _ are talking to  _ me _ about dignity?!” Really, she couldn’t believe what she just heard, but Chloe just preened, finally turning in her direction and flipping her signature ponytail over her shoulder. What in the world was she even  _ doing  _ in the back?

“Someone has to, seeing as Rossi seemed to have made you lose any sense of pride and you have just started to take it  _ lying down _ .” She sniffed. “So many years and it all amounted to that? Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!” Chloe then turned up her nose and faced towards the blackboard.

Too angry and befuddled, Marinette decided to turn towards the board and listen to the lesson. She spent the entire day mulling over those words, even as she helped Max with his Arts lessons, or even Kim and his French in-between lessons, and in the end, the only thing that made sense with this timing was that Chloe was trying… to cheer her up?

That was too ridiculous to even think about. What? Did Chloe decide she was the only one allowed to bully her or something? Marinette shook her head as she was headed home.

No, she was just overthinking it.

But even her homework wasn’t enough to distract her and her thoughts kept replaying this morning’s scene in her head. She got up from her desk, walked across her room, and fell face first on her bed, the covers muffling her sounds of frustrations as her legs kicked the mattress, her hands holding a pillow over the back of her head.

“Now now, don’t get too worked up.” Tikki giggled somewhere on her right. “Alya is your friend, she’ll come back to you, eventually.

Marinette sighed and turned around, now facing her ceiling, holding her pillow against her chest.

“But what if she doesn’t, Tikki? What if Lila really manages to steal all my friends?”

The spotted kwami floated in her direction and landed on her pillow.

“Then they weren’t worth your love and friendship.” She said in a decisive tone that was very different from her usual sweetness. Marinette looked at her with a concerned frown, but Tikki only smiled at her. “ I have lived longer than this country existed. I have seen humans of all ages and colors, but in the end, humans are humans. Plagg is better at this kind of talk than I am.” She admitted, before continuing. “But what I am trying to say is that you have a duty, not to Paris, not to Ladybug, but to yourself.... I’m sorry if I came across as too strict before today.” She floated nearer to her face and patted her cheek with a small red paw.

“I have lost too many ladybugs to duty already. While it is safer for you to not know Chat’s identity and to stop Hawkmoth, as Marinette, you too have a right to happiness.” Tikki’s expression turned sad. “Sometimes, things don’t turn out okay, no matter how much you will try, and it’s okay, you did nothing wrong. If you feel that the situation is becoming untenable, then leave and seek out something you feel will be better for yourself.”

Marinette felt her eyes burn as she felt something within herself unknot.

“B-But we’re  _ friends _ !” She protested, only for Tikki’s expression to turn stern.

“Maybe, but it’s no reason for you to let yourself be taken advantage of. You are a kind girl, my little Ladybug, but kindness doesn’t mean you have to roll over and let the world walk all over you. Especially that boy. What he did to you was out of the line!” She looked infuriated now.

Marinette was feeling confused. Was she talking about Adrien?

“B-But, he did nothing wron-” Tikki stopped her by putting her paw on her lips.

“Apupup. He did. He asked you to stand down and let her run unchecked, to betray your values knowingly, and yet he isn’t even standing up for you when that girl is very obviously moving against you? He took advantage of your friendship to force you to do something you feel strongly against and potentially dangerous to  _ you _ . Sure, that Lila girl could be akumatized, but that little trollop would do so anyways, id Chloé says the truth, so where does that leave you, hm? How many close shaves will it take until one of them sticks and you get akumatized? No, him forcing you to remain silent was not kindness, that’s cowardice, or ignorance.” she allowed begrudgingly.

“But I  _ love  _ him…” She said plaintively, eyes shifting towards the posters she owned.

Tikki sighed.

“Marinette, this is now officially an intervention. Get up.”

The girl blinked, while the kwami’s expression turned sterner. “I said, get  _ up _ !” She poked Marinette more insistently, and she got up.

“Good. Now, ask your mother for a tub of vanilla ice cream, and your father if here are any games you can play to distract yourself.”

“But why?” She was now completely confused, as Tikki looked at her, nodding wisely.

“Ice cream will make it all better. Now shoo, I don’t want to see you in this room again or...or… I’ll mess up all of your balls of yarn!” She said threateningly, now holding a ball of her favorite red yarn. The girl opened her mouth, closed it, then walked down in utter confusion.

As she arrived down, she asked her mother for that ice cream, still feeling utterly lost, with her eyes puffy and still red from crying.

Sabine’s expression melted as she hugged her closely, thumbs making circles between her shoulder blades.

“Oh baby… Of course you can get ice cream. And cookies.” She let go and herded her towards the sofa. “Just let me get tom and a comforter and we’ll have a movie, just the two of us, okay?”

Marinette had a feeling there was a misunderstanding somewhere, but the unconditional acceptance coming from her mother just made her cry harder.

An hour later, she was rolled up in a comforter, a (brand new) Nintendo 3ds in her hand, with a game one of her father’s friends recommended (fire emblem awakening, they had odd costumes and this wasn’t the kind of games she usually played, but he promised it was good.), and was bawling her eyes out on her mother’s chest and blubbering things even she couldn’t understand. Sabine, meanwhile, was just making soothing noises, an arm slung across her daughter’s shoulders and the tv remote in her hands, the both of them sitting in front of the TV.

“...A-An’ she keeps lyiiiin’ an’ no one caaaaresh!”

“It must be hard.”

“A-An Adrien shaid not to * hic * anything because akumaaaaa-”

“He’s a bad friend then.”

“T-L-Ladybug said to leave but I don’t wannaaaaa-”

That earned her a raised eyebrow.

“Ladybug talked to you about it? You know who she is?” That was news to Sabine.

Marinette nodded shyly.

“Sh-she comes sometimes… Takin’ care ov akuma righ’ now…” She got a paper tissue to blow her nose in, before she swallowed another spoon of ice cream. Over the back of the sofa, she could see Tom peeking through the door’s hole, obviously listening to the conversation. Sabine shook her head. What a ridiculous man she married.

“It does explain why we haven’t seen a butterfly yet.” For either of them. The woman mused, taking in the information her daughter gave her. “I’m not sure I like you knowing that much about Ladybug, that sounds dangerous.”

“N-No shoishe L-Lila *hic * in the bathroom… She said she’ll steal all my f-friendsh and A-Adrien and she did! A-An’ Akuma came and Ladybug was not transhformed and * hic *”

Marinette covered her face in Sabine’s shoulder and bawled harder. Sabine’s eyebrow twitched.

She might have let it go if it were just two teenagers fighting over a boy, simple comfort and a bit of help would help her grow. If that ‘Lila’ was that malicious and smart, however... Well, Sabine had some experience dealing with her sort. The kind that sabotaged and casually faked wounds to garner sympathy.

The situation may not be dire enough to take Marinette out of school, but Sabine would be watching. After all, she was friends with the lunch ladies, they loved when she sneaked them a few sweets whenever she delivered pastries to Mrs Dentelle next to the school. If she just so happened to express a few concerns, she was sure they wouldn’t mind keeping an eye on her daughter for her, right?

In the meantime, though, she had a daughter to comfort.

“Now, what is it you were saying about that Chloe girl?”

* * *

  
  


At the other side of the city, Plagg twitched and opened an eye, before groaning.

“Kid, c’mere, we need to have a talk."

He wondered what had triggered sugarcube this time. Why did she have to always be so high strung all the time? He whined in his mind as Adrien lifted his head up.

* * *

  
  


After the hatch to Marinette’s room closed, Tikki put the yarn back where it belonged, and sat on it. Her expression was utterly blank, stars swimming in her eyes as she hummed a song long lost to Mankind contemplatively.

They were at that part of the cycle after all.

The kwami sighed. She knew perfectly well what the Rossi girl was up to. Her brutal change of behavior and subsequent success meant she had gotten help from someone versed in human emotion, most likely Hawkmoth, considering her recent closeness with Adrien without Agreste intervening. She’d seen enough of those already to know how it would finish. Already, she was muddling poor Alya’s sense of values and friendship, and unless Adrien began to act soon, he, too would fall for this eventually.

All Tikki could do, then, was protect Marinette by severing the thread between them.

That boy was just too soft for him to be her Chat Noir, but Plagg seemed to like him, so she would give him one last chance, though she wouldn’t make it easy for him!

She wondered if Marinette, like some of her users, would eventually come to hate her once she learned the truth.

Plagg was usually the one better at this, but she had lived long enough that she had a few tricks up her metaphorical sleeve. she lifted her paws in front of her and, in between them, a small, golden orb of sparkling light appeared. This was a more physical expression of her power over good luck, as well as the power born from Ladybug’s good deeds. Any misuse or bad actions lessened the amount of energy accumulated, and in some cases, it could sink into the negatives, the user needing to make up for the difference. This was why, despite Marinette being the Ladybug Miraculous user, her powers over good luck never manifested unless Lucky Charm was active.

Even if Hawkmoth won, he wouldn’t get to enjoy his victory. 

He wouldn’t get to enjoy anything at all, as Nooroo slowly drained him of any positive emotions he was ever able to feel.

Marinette, in the other hand, had nothing to fear. She was one of her better users.

Tikki knew the girl wasn’t a saint, she misbehaved from time to time, after all.

But it was fine, she mused, as she allowed the power to sink back into herself.

Her blue eyes slowly turned towards a black butterfly fluttering in, obviously intent in targeting her holder. She gingerly tiptoed behind it until she reached it, then her head and mouth expanded, catching the offending creature and chewing on it, until she spat out a terrified white butterfly.

Not on her watch. She thought as the butterfly hit the glass in its haste to fly away. 

Hopefully, Hawkmoth would get the message.

Otherwise…

Well, Tikki had never pretended to be the nicest Kwami out there.

It was why they requested the swap in the first place.

Plagg was the one who loved saints.

Tikki had lost too many of them to stomach them anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Au corner (yaaaay)!:
> 
> \- In this AU, Tikki and Plagg decided to try swapping users because Tikki was sick and tired of her Ladybugs dying on her. Plagg just rolled with it because why not.  
> \- In addition to having to deal with xenophobia, Sabine had to actively fight off matchmaking candidates Tom's father threw at him in desperation to not have him 'add rice flour to the bread'...


	5. True self

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lila feels Frustrated, Adrien is Frustrated and Marinette feels Flustered.

She had put it off for too long already, what with the Chloé incident and her paranoia about Marinette’s retaliation, and while he had accepted to bury the hatchet, he was in no way willing to let her become closer to her. Thankfully, she had an ace up her sleeve. Namely…

“Yes, Mister Agreste, I’ll keep an eye on him. I’ve gotten him to open up a bit since we are doing this project together, but I’m worried about Dupain-Cheng not backing off.”

“I see. Keep up the good work, miss Rossi.” The man’s voice answered through the speaker of her phone.

When trying to win over someone, it never hurts to have the approval of the future in-laws.

It had been one month since they agreed to this uneasy peace, and she had to work very hard on ensuring Alya never found an occasion to go back to Marinette, while at the same time making sure that Adrien would become less skittish around her. It worked somewhat, but it seemed that she had grossly underestimated the power that that thrice-damned Ladybug had over his heart.

As she entered the classroom, her smile widened.

“Hello everyone~Oh, we’re missing people?” One specific person in particular, she noticed.

Mylène nodded, answering sweetly.

“Yes, I called Marinette yesterday after that Akuma attack and she said her parents wanted her to stay home today after she got caught up in it.”

Ah, yes, the akuma attack. Computalent was an odd one, but not unwelcome, and he just so happened to attack the store in which Marinette was shopping to fuel her newfound game addiction. 

Alya looked down and winced. Ah, she was probably feeling guilty for not calling, time to intervene.

“Marinette didn’t call you Alya? That’s odd, you two are supposed to be best friends, right?”

The other girl’s expression wavered, but Mylène spoke up again.

“Her phone broke during the attack and she doesn’t remember where she lost it. I called the bakery to check if she was okay, and she’s fine, she was injured, but Ladybug fixed that!”

Lila felt the need to click her tongue, but refrained from doing so. There was no way she could turn that in a way to make Marinette seem insensitive. However, Alya did feel pretty guilty. Hmmm… What’s the saying again? ‘The road to Hell is paved with good intentions?’

“If you feel bad about it, how about we visit her after class?” Lila proposed ‘helpfully’, causing Alya to perk up.

“Are you sure girl?” She then deflated. “No, I don’t think it’s a good idea… She doesn’t like you and I don’t want you to feel alone.”

“I could go check.” Adrien said. “My photoshoot has been pushed back because the venue has been flooded.”

No! She wanted to shout. Adrien visiting her would be the worst! It would give them time to talk!

“Good idea bro!” Nino agreed, giving him a thumbs up as Alya clearly began warming up to the idea, her sly ‘I’m matchmaking those two’ expression appearing.

Apparently it was going to happen and she couldn’t do anything about it!

Lila’s frustration was rising more and more, and she had to swallow her bile and fake a trembling smile.

“I-It would probably be for the best… The best, yes…”

Adrien looked at her, puzzled, but had no time to say anything as lessons began.

And as lessons ended, he ran out before she could stop him, without even a second glance in her direction. Lila’s eyes burned. Why was it so hard?! People always liked her immediately! She never had to win over an enemy before! Why weren’t things turning out in her favor?!

She felt Alya’s hand on her shoulder and she looked at her slightly blurred face. She looked concerned.

“Lila? Lila, listen to me, deep breaths, calm down.” The girl looked over her shoulder with fear as the rest of the class was getting away from her quickly.

It didn’t take a genius to know that an akuma was coming for her and she sneered internally. At least Hawkmoth had taken her side. Focusing on her anger and frustration, she put on a tearful performance for the rest of the class.

“I-I *hic * He won’t look at me, Alya!” She sobbed, tears rolling off her eyes and nose congesting. “No matter how much I try, he won’t  _ look _ at me! A-And I tried so-o hard! I  _ l-love _ him, so why won’t my feelings reach him!?” She shouted with an edge of hysteria in her voice, some of her own frustration audible for all to hear.

Alya’s mouth opened with her shock and in a corner of her mind, Lila felt a dark satisfaction purr as Hawkmoth spoke to her.

“Almask, your words are struggling to reach other people’s true selves I can help you with that, for a price.”

Lila couldn't hear Alya anymore and while she already knew her answer, she faked resisting for the world outside.

“A-Adri-Adrien-!” Her mouth said.

‘Yes Hawkmoth.’ Her mind said.

Everything was drowned in a purple haze.

When she woke up, she was in front of the Dupain-Cheng bakery, with a fragmented memory. Ladybug, Chat Noir, Rena Rouge, Carapace  _ and  _ Queen Bee were here and she inwardly congratulated herself for warranting the need of all five heroes. If nothing else, this would show Hawkmoth that she was useful.

“Rena, I’ll leave things to you. Too close to the time limit.” The spotted ‘heroine said, jumping away with Chat Noir, Carapace looking at the fake fox apologetically. 

“Same here. Think you can do it?”

“No worries, I can do it.” Rena Rouge said confidently, lifting Lila up.

The Italian decided that it was showtime and began bawling.

“I-It was s-so scary-y-y!” She cried, before stopping. “My friends! I was with my friends when.. When- Are they okay?! A-Alya was right next to me!” She gripped Rena’s shoulders, the very picture of a frantic person.

The Fox’s words were a bit choked as she answered. Her lips were wobbling. With such soft hearted heroes, Lila wondered how Hawkmoth didn’t win, but it was fine, it would only help her case. Clearly, the supervillain needed the help.

“They’re fine, very worried about you, but fine.”

Lila smiled.

See how Adrien dares to ignore her now!

* * *

Chat Noir was jumping across the rooftops under the night sky. Exercise always helped him work off his frustrations, and he did feel frustrated. 

Almask was annoying, but not that powerful, once his Lady figured out that she needed to rip off the masks that appeared on people’s face near her to turn them into monsters to do her bidding, a simple coordinated attack and strategic application of Venom solved the issue quite handily. 

Instead, as usual,  _ Adrien  _ was the one causing him problems, although it wasn’t exactly fair. No, the one causing him problems was Lila and her being akumatized over him trying to visit Marinette. Nino already scolded him over him being too insensitive, while Alya remained suspiciously quiet, which was odd, but he wasn’t sure where he could help.

Well, if Adrien’s too useless, leave it to Chat Noir!

He landed on one particular rooftop and looked down, only for his mouth to drop open and almost fall to the balcony. Curiosity piqued, he decided to lean forwards in order to get a better view.

Oh, he found Marinette alright.

She was wearing black stockings with green paw prints, black high shorts, a green shirt ucked under the short’s waist and her hair was done up in two buns held in place by green hair clips and ribbons, all of this underneath a big, open, black hoodie with cat ears sewn on it.

His mouth dried. She had a  _ Chat Noir _ themed outfit.

She was currently  _ playing a video game _ , in a  _ Chat Noir _ themed outfit.

This needed proper gushing later on, but right now, he needed to be the suave and confident cat he knew he was!

Raising his baton, he snapped a picture of his very good friend to immortalize the awesome cuteness that was Chatinette, before he lowered it and knocked to make his presence known.

This seemed to do the trick and Chatinette stiffened, eyes meeting with his and she froze.

Then, she looked as if someone poured hot water inside of her and she flailed, falling off her bed. A few seconds, she opened and hissed at him. It was so cute.

“Chat! Wh-what! Why are you here?!”

Awww, she glared at him, she thought she was intimidating~ Wait-

“Did you sew cat paws with pads on that hoodie?” He asked in disbelief, and before Chatinette could hide them, his hand clasped onto her wrist, hidden by the fabric. In front of his eyes, was the accurate representation of an anime’s cat paw, complete with little pink pads.

Utterly fascinated, he poked them with his index. 

They were even springy! He gushed in his mind.

“S-Stoooop~” Marinette whined, causing his breath to hitch.

Adorable. He needed to drag her hooo- Wait.

He let go and cleared his throat, blushing.

“Sorry Princess, I was just in awe of such a Meowvelous outfit!” He put his hands to his chest, batting his eyelashes at her. “ This lonely cat just couldn’t resist inspecting it more closely~”

Marinette harrumphed, crossing her arms, her hoodie’s ears bouncing, a golden glint around her throat and a swishing behind her back, between her legs…

Oh God, this girl would be the death of him. She had a bell choker and a tail on this hoodie.

He inwardly whined.

He already had his Lady so why did Marinette make things so much harder on him!

“I have a feeling this was a terrible idea.” Marinette muttered, arms still crossed, but she stopped pouting. “Why are you here, Chat?” She asked again, dragging the boy out of his reverie.

“This cat wanted to check on you, after all, you were injured last time, and the target just now.” Chat winced inwardly as Marinette’s expression softened.

“I’m okay Chat, Ladybug’s cure healed it. If anything, this was my bad luck that injured me. I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.” She said ruefully, causing the superhero to tilt his head curiously.

“What were you even doing there, Princess? It’s pretty far from the sewing supplies shops.”

Marinette mumbled an answer, but Chat’s enhanced senses picked it up nonetheless.

“I was buying the next entry for my game.”

The blond’s eyes turned towards the console laying on the bed and he caught it curiously.

Oh.

“I know that one.” He sing-sang.” Soooo~ Who did you pair your character with?” Clearly intent on teasing her more, his arm raising to catch her pillow before it hit her face.

“No one! Give this back you stupid cat!” 

He lifted the console up in the air, out of her heach and she glowered (cutely) at him, running around him in an attempt to confuse him, before she crouched and leaped to get it back, eliciting a startled laugh from him as her body collided with his. Then, he fell back when the bed’s side hit him behind the knee and he found himself looking at bright blue eyes, Marinette laying on his chest with an equally surprised expression.

He felt as if an eternity passed staring at those achingly familiar orbs, his face feeling like a lobster and heart thundering out of his chest. His breath had long left his lungs, and from how she looked, Marinette was much the same. He twitched and realized one of his hands had landed on her back, causing his embarrassment (yes, it had to be, there was no way he-) to double.

Then, Marinette’s purse fell of the chair, and the moment was broken, Marinette rolling off him while spluttering apologies, and him not far behind her.

“I’ll … uh… I’ll go back to my patrol! Yes! Patrol! Patrolling is good!” He said, his voice a bit higher than what he intended while Marinette nodded frantically, before slapping her crimson cheeks (with her kitty paws! the little voice inside of his head screamed) and turning around. As he prepared to leap, he heard her mutter something, with light noises that were probably her palms slapping her cheeks, which his enhanced hearing caught.

“-Remember Adrien! You can’t like Chat and him at the same time you stupid idiot-!”

The information caught up to his brain and he tripped as he was leaping, causing his leg to catch on the railing and make him fall to the street.

“Chat!” He heard Marinette shout as she arrived on her balcony in time to see him fall on his fours.

“A good cat always know how to fall,  _ purrincess _ !” He laughed at her and her waved fists of fury.

“Don’t you dare make me worry about you like that you stupid, stupiiiid cat!”

Her screams of righteous fury only made him laugh louder as he ran all the way to his home, landing on his bed.

He then did several things.

First, he saved this picture from his baton to his computer.

Then, he untransformed, Plagg appearing and picking up on his good mood.

FInally, he fell back and hugged his pillow, trying to make sense of the situation.

“So, visited your girlfriend, did you?” The kwami piped up, having gotten a piece of cheese from his stash.

“We’re not dating, Plagg!” He protested. He liked Ladybug, after all.

“But you could be.” Was the unhelpful answer.

Adrien tried to picture this, the days spent talking about video games and playing, the Chat Noir outfits, the sweets and enough cheese to keep Plagg content-

His eyes narrowed.

“You’re saying that because of the cheese.” He said accusingly, eliciting a snort from the black cat.

“‘Course I am. Doesn’t change that you liiiike her.”

Adrien pursed his lips. Sure, Marinette was awesome, and he wasn’t sure he deserved her but… Ladybug was the one to steal his breath away with her charisma and confidence.

“I love Ladybug.” He asserted.

“Doesn’t stop you from dating, or liking someone else. Spots made it pretty clear she’s business only.” His companion pointed out, and Adrien groaned.

“No Plagg, I’m not asking Marinette out when I love Ladybug.”

Well, Plagg tried. The car rolled his eyes, just about done with this idiot. How did it go again, ‘kill them all and let Tikki sort ‘em out’, right?

“Just don’t whine when someone comes along and sweeps her off her feet because you were too much of a coward to confess.”

Adrien didn’t get much sleep that night.

Which led to a rather… Awkward the following day.

He got up, still sleepy and very much lacking sleep, which guaranteed a grumpy Adrien, got down to eat his healthy breakfast and, to his surprise, met with his father. That got a confused blink out of him as the man caught him before he went to school. Then he had to open his mouth.

“Adrien, Miss Dupain-Cheng is a bad influence. She has caused several akumatizations already and it is unsafe of you to remain around her.” Adrien’s jaw dropped in indignation as the man continued, eyes narrowing at him, an extra layer of frost to his voice. “ As such, you will be cutting contact with her, or I will remove you from school. It was bad enough that you frequented that boy, I will not allow your health and future to be jeopardized to this extent anymore.” 

Then, without a by your leave, his father turned around and left, oblivious, or ignoring, Adrien’s rising indignation. He quickly buried it, used to that kind of things already, and his lips just thinned as, like the good teenager he is, he began thinking of ways to go around this parental order. 

Fine. If that was what they wanted, then Adrien would comply publicly.

Thankfully, he had a way to meet with the  _ purrincess  _ clandestinely, though he wondered how he was going to surprise her next. Flustered Marinette was fun to tease~.

In his schoolbag, Plagg hit his head repeatedly against a schoolbook and in her room, Marinette sponaneously blushed under Tikki's bemused eye.


	6. Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lila steadily loses her mind, Adrien is an oblivious (rebellious) ball of optimism and Marinette learns lessons from her new cat. No one said they were good ones…. Featuring Grumpynette.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Internet was down for a few days, so have a double update!

The new status quo was maintained, and Marinette Dupain-Cheng was still nowhere near willing to surrender to her, Lila thought with frustration. Even worse, she seemed to have made a truce of sorts with Chloé Bourgeois, as the blonde and her stopped fighting each other.

It was a disaster! Lila was counting on using their feud as a smokescreen to act! How was she supposed to find another distraction now?!

She glared at the last row where Chloe was doing her nails and Marinette was playing with her console, both looking supremely unconcerned with the rest of the class.

What was worse, this new attitude of hers made it impossible for Lila to fake an attack from Marinette on her, simply because she obviously .  _ Did. Not. Care _ .

No matter how she insulted her, flaunted her (fake) relationship with Adrien, had fun with Alya and Nino, she just.  _ Wouldn’t! Look! Her! Way! _

This couldn't stand. Whether it was as underling or enemy,  _ No One _ ignored Lila Rossi!

She had underestimated how adaptable the other girl was, stealing her friends didn’t work, stealing the one she loved didn’t work, fine then! 

Lila would just steal the entire class!

She quickly turned towards Max, and began flattering him.

It was time for the second phase of her plan to start: Twist them until their heads pop.

  
  


* * *

  
  


It was now May.

Adrien was feeling conflicted.

The ambiance of the class had shifted somehow, but he couldn’t pinpoint where exactly, save that it was centered around Lila. After Alix suffered an injury that took her out of the competitive skating scene completely, she had clung to Lila, almost desperately. In fact, this seemed to be a pattern, but he had never caught the girl in the act. She didn’t even lie anymore nowadays, surely, this was a sign that she changed? Whenever he asked Plagg, he snorted in disgust and pointed him in Marinette’s direction but…

He couldn’t talk to her. Not now that he was sorting his feelings out. Not with his father’s threats hanging over his head.

As awesome as Ladybug was, she wasn’t there, Marinette was..

But Marinette was no Ladybug. 

And asking her out before he could sincerely say that he would choose her over Ladybug wasn’t something Marinette deserved. She deserved someone who would put her first, that much he knew, from his interactions with her as Chat Noir. In hindsight, it was pretty obvious why she couldn’t talk to him when he was Adrien, her crush made her nervous around him. 

That particular realization, with a dash of teenage rebellion was what had him constantly come back to her as Chat Noir, though he could see some hints of a growing nervousness towards that him as well. Was it because she was beginning to fall for that him as well? It felt a bit cruel of him, to make her fall twice for him, but he needed to be absolutely sure of her feelings for him before he made his move.

Adrien was used to disappointment, after all.

And there there was Lila. After Almask, she didn’t even bother to hide her affections towards him, if they were even real, anymore. This riled Chloé up to no end, but it was Marinette’s lack of reaction that puzzled him. She liked him, so why didn’t she try to stop Lila?

He sighed as the Italian, now usually squeezing her arms around his, joked to something Alya said. Nino looked at him wryly, before shaking his head.

“You still up for the trip, bro?”

“If my father agrees.” He answered, conflicted at the idea of leaving Paris for an entire month for Summer. On one hand, less work of him. On the other, no Ladybug and Chat Noir…

Lila giggled, her hand snaking its way in his.

“I talked with Mr. Agreste and he agrees that you deserve a break! Besides, you’ll have plenty of places to have photoshoots in, too!”

Adrien hummed noncommitally. He wasn’t sure he liked the attention, but Nino and Alya acted as if nothing was wrong, so surely they would warn him if she was doing something weird, right?

He’d have to pay a visit to his  _ purrincess  _ before leaving.

* * *

  
  


It was recess between two classes taught by Miss Bustier, therefore they didn’t need to change rooms.

Love was an odd thing, Marinette mused, her eyes flitting from the critical hit killing one of her most beloved units, her fingers deftly forcing the game to go through a soft reset. 

It sneaked up on people, hit them on the head to the point they couldn’t think, and their bodies were soon overtaken by fever. Yet, Tikki and her mother assured her, like a fever, it went away, leaving cooling embers and ashes.

She sighed.

She had a few commissions to do, but nothing much. Lila oh so kindly convinced Kitty Section that Marinette would to the costumes for their upcoming concert free of charge, without asking her of course, but by now, she was used to the slights. Tikki kept speaking about the kwami of the Black Cat, Plagg, and how he would react to things. Marinette wasn’t sure whether the Ladibug was aware of how much she spoke about him, but she wouldn’t say anything about it, not when Tikki looked so… happy, when he came up.

It seemed love was an affliction that didn’t hit humans exclusively.

Lila announcing her relationship with Adrien, with the help of Nino and Alya to prove it, hurt.

It hurt so much she almost was akumatized, but Tikki ate the butterfly behind her back. The few months after were almost a dream, with her going from place to place mechanically. People’s eyes were all on Lila and so, the only ones at school who were even concerned with her were Miss Bustier, Alya (that traitor) and Sabrina, of all people.

Well, not exactly, there was another one. Two, in fact, but she was fairly sure the person on question would murder Marinette in her sleep before admitting to it.

She glanced at the box of macarons on her right, looking almost dazzling under the sunlight, and confirmed another one of them had disappeared, a suspicious noise coming from the desk farther in that direction. 

It seemed making Ladybug-themed macarons was all she needed to do to bait her.

She put her console on the table and stretched, both hands in front of her as she yawned, before she reached inside of her bag to get a tupperware, she opened it and put it on her lap as she opened and ate a cheese stick, crumpling the plastic in her hands to mask the noise on her lap. Then, she closed the tupperware, putting it back in her bag, and caressing the silky fur of the softly purring creature, who allowed her fingers to scratch them on their favored spot.

Tikki was right, Plagg was an adorable being, and she felt immensely envious of Chat to have him as a partner. But then, she wouldn’t have Tikki, if they were swapped.

“Oh my, Marinette, are you chasing from an idol to another?” Her eyes turned towards the shrill-voiced nuisance (Plagg’s words), and she bit in her cheese stick, the small, dark part of her taking great pleasure at imagining this was Lila’s head she bit off.

“Hmmmm?” She hummed, eyes sleepy and half-lidded, fingers now scratching Plagg under his chin as her other hand supported her head. Alya looked at her sheepishly (as she should!) while Nino scratched his neck and Adrien looked at her… Intensely (what she would have given for him to look at her like that, once upon a time….).

Lila giggled, and Marinette wondered idly what she would look like if she threw an angry cat at her. Cats seemed to hate the Italian girl as much as they loved Marinette, funnily enough.

“You’re wearing a Black Cat themed outfit.” She laughed, as if it was ridiculous. Marinette’s eyes narrowed, but she felt tiny claws on her lap and her body relaxed (when had she tensed?).

(“Best way to deal with attention wh- erm people who like attention is to not react to them. You can scream and break stuff afterwards when you’re alone, but if you react, you lose. There’s a reason Trixx doesn’t like dealing with me.)”

“I am” She answered blankly, index now running over Plagg’s spine, who rubbed against it in approval. She had a lot of opportunities to work on her cat-petting skills, lately. (And she couldn’t deny the thrill she felt while doing something so obvious and _ risky _ -)

Today, she had decided upon buying that expensive camembert wheel from one of her father’s friends who worked in the industry, she would dress however she pleased. Besides, it was nothing scandalous, and Juleka wore that kind of clothing all the time.

it was a mix of a ballerina’s outfit with casual wear, a poofy skirt reaching mid-thighs with paw print leggings, a vest that stopped at her ribs with a green cat pouncing on her back, a lacy black shirt with a fake, embroidered corset and her hair was let free with a green ribbon serving as a headband to keep her bangs out of her eyes. She was a designer, so why couldn’t she dress up from time to time?

Plagg approved, being the cat of taste that he was.

Lila didn’t get the message Alya and Nino did, because she continued, wrapping herself around Adrien’s arm (He didn’t even  _ try  _ to push her off).

She sighed. What was the circus up to today?

“I was wondering, why Chat noir? Surely Rena Rouge would be better?” Alya preened and Marinette had to raise a mental eyebrow at that.  _ Surely  _ Alya wasn’t that stupid?

“Rena Rouge?” She asked, mulling on the question. “Why not suggest Ladybug?”

(“Listen, kitten. When someone asks you a question you don’t know the underlying meaning of, delay and ask one of your own until you do. Ooooh, that’s good cheese right here…”)

Lila beamed.

“Why, because Rena’s the best superheroine of course!” She chirped, Alya besides her preening in barely concealed pride. 

Marinette paused. This reeked of broken secrecy. How to deal with that though… At the very least, this was grounds to not give her back the miraculous, though she may be hasty. Very well. She’d confront Alya one last time about it, then she’d make her decision.

“Besides, “ Lila added. “ Dressing up as Ladybug would be a bit…  _ pretentious _ , you know? She’s so lofty and different from us normal people~ She has that really  _ untouchable  _ aura around her,  _ right _ ?”

_ Bitch _ .

Marinette blinked at the stray thought. Ever since Plagg started sneaking out to talk to her in school, she had begun losing her grip on them, though the cat insisted it was for the better and Tikki just laughed as she lost her mind about it in her bedroom, between two Chat Noir visits, but this was just becoming ridiculous, to quote Chloé.

“Bit harsh, coming from her self-professed best friend.” Marinette commented, eyes boring into Adrien’s. The boy’s eyes just lowered as he looked away and she felt some sort of… Triumph?

On her lap, Plagg trembled as he did whenever he muffled his laughter.

…

How did he even  _ see  _ the interaction?

Lila’s mouth opened and closed repeatedly, before it settled on close and she stared at Marinette, who stopped petting Plagg to instead get back to her game.

“To answer your question, Chat Noir has been protecting Ladybug from the beginning, even before Rena Rouge, Carapace or Queen Bee entered the picture, and I think he needs to know that someone other than Ladybug appreciates his efforts to keep us all safe. If all you’re here for is to criticize my choice to cheer for the home team, I’d suggest you go back to your seat, recess is almost over.” 

(“... -you turn your head over, ignore them and raise your tail to show your indifference.”

“But I don’t have a tail!”

“ _ Semantics _ .”)

Dismissal was clear in her voice, a trick she learned from studying Chloé, who had visibly continued working on being less of a pest, which went unnoticed by everyone but a few.

She didn’t know what was cooking up in Lila’s head, but one thing was clear. She loved attention, craved it and thrived in it. So the best way to deal with her was to deny her it.

Marinette wasn’t good with people, not in the same way the Italian girl was. Her earnestness wouldn’t change people, neither would her gifts. However, for some reason, Lila herself seemed intent on making  _ her  _ look at her.

Therefore, Marinette thought, the best way to protect everyone was to make sure Lila never took her eyes off her by denying her wish.

Plagg’s rumbling laughter at her deduction yesterday made her feel both better and worse, but that was the usual with him, Tikki said.


End file.
